1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to doors and movable panels for enclosures, and particularly to a motorized pickup truck bed cover for securing a pickup truck box or bed and any contents thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
The light pickup truck has become an increasingly popular motor vehicle in the U.S. and in many other parts of the world as well. The versatility of such vehicles for carrying a limited number of passengers, as well as a relatively large volume of cargo, greatly accounts for their popularity with motor vehicle owners and operators. While they are quite popular with small business owners, construction contractors, and others in similar fields, they are also very popular with individuals using them only as routine transportation and for the occasional carriage of miscellaneous articles.
Perhaps the greatest drawback of such pickup truck vehicles is their conventionally open cargo areas in the truck beds, and the resulting ease of access by unauthorized persons. This has led to a great number of tool storage boxes, covers, and enclosures for the otherwise open bed, with these various storage boxes, covers, and enclosures being permanently secured to the bed structure or at least being relatively difficult to open or remove by unauthorized parties. Insofar as the bed cover configurations are concerned, nearly all such covers are manually operated and are thus relatively cumbersome to open and close. This is true of both rigid covers and flexible tarp type covers.
Another problem with such bed covers and enclosures is that they incorporate various support struts and the like, with the bases of these struts usually attached to the floor of the vehicle cargo bed or box. Horizontal space in the cargo boxes of pickup trucks is generally somewhat limited, particularly laterally due to the encroachment of the wheel wells for the rear wheels and tires of the vehicle. The mounting of support struts and the like to the floor of the cargo box further encroaches upon the otherwise available flat cargo space. In some cases, such support struts have been installed at the head of the cargo box. While this improves the available lateral flat space across the floor of the box, the resulting support of the overlying bed or box cover panels at only one end or edge thereof creates undue asymmetrical stresses on the cover panels and requires significantly increased structure and weight for the mechanism.
Thus, a pickup truck bed cover solving the aforementioned problems is desired.